Reply #9: At the time, it seemed sensible, at least that's what they said [View All]

[Selatius]

It was either kill several hundred thousand civilians and end the war quickly, or sacrifice another million soldiers in a pitched battle to take down Japan.

In the end, it was most likely a false dichotomy. The Japanese probably would've surrendered anyway a few weeks after the USSR declared war on Japan after finishing off what was left of Nazi Germany. The leadership was stubborn, but even they realized they had no chance taking on the USA and the USSR and win.